"Amazing! Why does it taste this good!?" Firefly exclaimed in shock as she tasted chocolate cake. The girl's eyes sparkled as her whole body trembled.
Marcus smiled, seeing the girl that happy from a simple chocolate cake.
"This is good. The taste is just right." Kafka commented as she was eating alongside them.
Elysia and Kallen nodded to their comments as they felt similar about eating alongside them.
Belfast, who was behaving like a proper maid, was a bit annoyed that Elysia, who is a maid, too! Forgot her duties! Thankfully, Marcus doesn't mind, as otherwise, she could use her artillery to blow her up!
The group were in a mess hall, with five chefs working to make food for them.
After filling their stomachs with regular food, it was time for desserts. Marcus didn't usually bother with that stuff, but since Firefly never ate anything apart from military rations, he decided to spoil her a bit.
"Indeed." He nodded at their observations.
The group continued to snack for a bit, but eventually, it was over, and Marcus needed to return to his work.
As he was walking to the bridge, the ladies followed him.
"You do girls know that you can do whatever you want." With a small smile, he commented on their attachment to him.
"I want to come with you," Firefly said in a serious tone. Her blunt reply made Kallen step forward, too.
"I feel the same way as Firefly. Besides, I am your pet. I should be with you."
Kafka perked up hearing this girl's role!
"Pet? Kinky." She bluntly spoke out.
Marcus looked at her. "Some collectables are like that, Kafka."
"No doubt. But doesn't that mean they get a high amount of attention?" the wine-red-haired girl hummed to herself. Unlike others who could get offended by treatment, this girl was thinking about the bigger picture.
This Kallen girl has high access to Marcus just because pets have special rights.
"Heh, to think you quickly figure out such things." The Inventor didn't deny or agree about such perks; he left them for the girls themselves to figure out.
"Logical thinking. Not influenced by emotions." She replied with a careless shrug, making Kallen and Elysia think for a second what she meant.
Both of them were influenced by emotions when they decided on their actions.
"I am impressed." Marcus nodded at her, then looked at Firefly.
"Since you want to keep me company, follow me."
"Roger."
"Okay, is fine."
She slowly nodded at his reply. The girl needs to adjust to non-military stuff.
The group left the hall and entered the main corridor. They passed several squads of knights, something they had already gotten used to, except for the two newcomers who realised at some point that these guys were artificial.
But this is where Firefly wondered the difference between her and them. She wondered how Marcus decided their roles and what made her stand out from them.
At some point, she will ask him to explain why.
After walking for a bit, they ended up in a familiar lift that took them to the bridge.
When the double doors opened, the Firefly saw the new. It was a familiar star system to her.
"We are still in the Glamoth system." She commented on what she saw.
"I will be taking these systems." He casually replied as he looked at her. "I will rebuild it to my vision."
"...I see…" There is not much she could say to him. If he has manpower and resources, then why not? It's better than some graveyard of bugs and wreckages.
"I am thinking of turning Glamoth into my faction's genetical wing." He stroked his chin while saying that he was throwing around some ideas about what to do with the solar systems of this destroyed empire to continue wielding the torch of genetic engineering.
"...Sentimental purposes?" Kafka commented after hearing what he would do in the place.
"Or collectable purposes as well?" She then realised this a moment later.
"Indeed. Precisely that." He nodded at her observation with a smile. The crazy, fearless girl knows him quite well! And it has only been a couple of hours tops! They are connecting at impressive speed, and all it took was similar hobbies!
"Hmm, I thought so."
She nodded at him. The pair clicking like that is sending warning bells to Elysia, who wanted his attention—this was not good! While Kallen is thinking about how to get in between by using her status…
Belfast at the back could only roll her eyes at their childish behaviour.
After explaining his plan, which he had devised after finding the Glamoth system, he motioned with his hand, and a large crescent-shaped window of his console appeared before him.
It was a large overview of his faction.
"Now then, let's see how my Technocracy is doing." Marcus crossed his arms and began to inspect.
"Aurora, show me the current fleet strength. I want to see if we have anything spare for this section of Galaxy."
[Anything specific you are looking for, sir?]
"I need three Assimilators. How is the production speed at the base?"
The moment he mentioned, a dagger-shaped hologram appeared in front of him.
[Currently, four are being constructed and will be launched in 14 hours]
The dagger's handle blinked where four acorn-shaped constructs were being built.
The dagger is pointing downwards into the green clouds of time.
This perspective gave him an idea… for a main weapon he could use.
'Shooting from outside time itself… not going to lie, that does sound cool.'
Marcus realised that if he utilises this properly… he could wipe out more than just planets.
After all…
The base location is in the dimension above. If he manipulates the blast space properly, he could wipe out entire timelines.
'Truly…fascinating…'
However, for now, he focused on the task at hand.
"I assume these are for Titan, Venus, Mars and Neogene time period?"
[No, those are already ready. At the moment, we are building up force for future expansions.]
Marcus raised his left eyebrow. He went through data logs for a bit.
What he found are several updates on the construction schematics. Quinella has simplified the construction of the Assimilators… three times.
The construction time that originally was around a week has been slashed down to just half a day.
While nanites play a crucial role, without them, even with his fancy tech, it would take ages to build; now, they can do it in a matter of hours.
Even then, it's because of the sheer mass of the construct.
"Good, then four of those and the support fleet will be sent here to the Glamoth system. With four Assimilators, the entire solar system will be cleaned in a matter of weeks."
[As you wish, allocating fleet.]
"Weeks? That is an impressive fleet you got there." Kafka, standing next to him, tried to figure out what she was seeing.
While she understood some of the things, the written language was something she didn't understand.
Same with the names of this fleet.
"Ouranos-Class Planetary Assimilators are my means for Planetary Occupation."
He showed her the Acorn size constructs, then compared one to Glamoth.
There was a bit of surprise in her eyes as she understood how big those things were.
'This guy…'
"As you can see, they encase the planet with gravitational forces, allowing the terraforming of even the most hostile planets with dead cores."
Marcus gave her a small demonstration with holograms.
"On top of that, it can simulate the sun, which means that the planet doesn't need to be close to the sun or even be part of a solar system."
"... Convenient. I assume it can build infrastructure and troops?" Kafka asked something she already had a hunch was there.
"Yep. That is why I call it 'Assimilator'. It assimilates planets to Technocracy's standards.
A dead world, hostile world, or toxic world, they will change into something we can live in regardless of the planet's location in the solar system." He explained the peculiar name of the Space station.
"Hoh, if this the case, It's very useful."
'Can it overcome Stellaron?' Now she wondered…
Not that she needed it, as Marcus leaned towards her and whispered the answer.
"Yes, I already dealt with one in my fiancee's world."
Kafka perked up when she heard that. Her reaction was pure shock over her face. It lasted for a second as she looked at him.
There was a bit of desire in her eyes. She wasn't hiding it.
"You are engaged. That's a surprise. I thought when you treat females as collectables, you will never marry one." She asked, her voice more intense.
"Of course I will. At some point, I will have a pantheon of my own."
"Oh… it makes sense; it truly does…" The girl realised if normal people saw people from this faction, they could treat them like gods… It's not a stretch by any means.
Not that she cares about such things. However, such status would mean she could have all the clothes and trinkets she would ever want… for all eternity.
It makes her salivate for a bit. Who could possibly deny her will if she wants the entire planet's coats? Or musical instruments? Or more coats?
'Seriously… Never thought that I would care about becoming a Goddess.' Kafka pondered at such prospect.
Not Aeon, but a legit Goddess, like the ones worshipped by primitive societies.
Her reason is that those gods and Goddesses are far more primal in their desires and far more passionate about their duties.
'Huh…It appears dancing close to death made me a bit philosophical.'
"Yeah, empire and most of the positions run by family are the most stable in this situation."
"In a way. But their power plays are the most brutal, that is if the Emperor who rules it passes away." Kafka commented with a shrug.
It reminds her of those political dramas.
"That's assuming death is a thing." Marcus looked at her.
"Is it not?"
"Well, even if time stops flowing, I won't cease to exist," He replied with a shrug.
"Organic death is a simple cycle. All you need to do is overcome organic wear and tear. The cycle is broken if the body's regeneration is superior to its ageing.
And that's just biology. There are other deaths, too, like soul, but soul is not difficult; all you need is mass to exceed a specific amount.
Not hard either."
"Hmm, so you surpassed those two. No wonder I can't damage you." Kafka didn't look surprised. She had her hunches. It was only a matter of how far he was in that specific rabbit hole.
Turns out he is immortal…
'Figures…'
"Damaging is not related. It's simply that I am four-dimensional, and you are three-dimensional.
You can only affect me if your understanding of time is the same as mine.
In other words, a fish cannot affect someone who can grasp the entire ocean in its palm from space.
Not only do you need to jump out of the water, but you need to cross a specific distance to stand at equal footing to hit me so that I could feel it."
She looked at him for a bit. The explanation was a bit over her head, so she tried to figure it out by moving her hand on him after she took off her glove. She could feel his body warm and texture…
Yet…
When she tried to squeeze him harder, it was like she was trying to squeeze a concrete wall!
It's like there was an invisible force field that was blocking her from doing it.
"...Very strange…"
"Haha, you are something else, getting all touchy with me only after a couple of hours of knowing each other." Marcus joked after seeing her behaviour.
"And why wouldn't I? You are a legitimate god. I never touched one before." The girl shamelessly shrugged without care.
"Good to know that you are not hiding your intentions."
As the pair began to flirt, Elysia and Kallen felt left out at the back!
"Don't you think it's a bit unfair? He has so many cute girls, but he focuses on one?" the pinkette asked the Schicksal maiden.
"...I am sure we will have our time." Kallen tried to assure her and stay positive.
"Oh, I know that time is something we have in abundance. It's that there are certain girls who are obsessive and can ensure men and keep them to themselves." The ex-Herrscher said in a sagely voice as if she were an extremely experienced individual.
"You think she is one of them?" Kallen asked in disbelief. As a good girl, the maiden always gives a person a chance no matter what, so…
She never considered that this newcomer could be that evil. After all, she didn't see anything that could be like that… even if Kafka was a wanted criminal. She didn't know her case, so for now Kallen was on the fence.
But…
"Are you sure?"
"Not really…"
Kallen looked deadpan for a second before sighting.
"But she has this aura…dangerous."
Being an ex-Herrscher of the Human Ego has its perks… to some extent. Her sixth sense didn't go anywhere.
"...Well, she has to be an experienced fighter." Kallen, who is a fighter herself, can see that Kafka is a fighter.
But Firefly?
That girl looks far too innocent and even naive to be a fighter of any sort!
"Fighting has nothing to do with this. I doubt Marcus cares about our fighting prowess that much."
To Elysia, it seemed that the Father of Technocracy was more interested in girls' feminine stuff—like cooking! Erina, who was a normal girl… became one of the most influential girls in his faction.
That just shows how easy it can be if one has the right tools.
The thing is… Marcus has similar thoughts to this newcomer.
This Kafka has something that attracts the Inventor.
"...umm… I am Valkyrie. I was raised to be a warrior for Schicksal…" Kallen was a bit uncomfortable when it comes to other things.
"Oh, we can think of things! For now, you should use your cuteness!" Elysia suggested with confidence.
"Uhh…"
Not that Kallen knew. Well, Marcus gave her a sailor uniform to wear. Appearantly, it's popular in his place. Elysia noticed that, and the girl understood that Marcus liked her enough to dress up like that!
It means Kallen can use it as a foundation for future endeavours!
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
"Gah!?"
Quinella exclaimed in shock as she noticed that the fleet she was amassing outside the base had begun to move out without her authorization.
"What is going on, Aurora!?"
[Supreme Commander has sent a word that he wants his fleet.]
The Assistant's cheeks inflated as she began to pout.
"But I am not done yet! My plan to darken the skies of all the planets in the solar system is not finished yet!"
She was only able to amass enough warships to darken only inner solar system planets! And those are the smallest ones!
[Your side activities are not of concern to us. He asked for his ships, and you will deliver them.]
"I am not saying that I won't! All I am saying is that I am not ready! Do you know how many ships I need to cover Jupiter? That gas blob is huge!" Quinella complained as she needed a huge amount of warship for that one!
"Besides, why he needs that many? It's not like he is waging war in that island universe."
As someone who perceives time from a higher dimension in her eyes, it is barely worth mentioning.
[Clean up of debris in several solar systems. Our Creator has found ruins of extinct space-fearing civilisation in his explorations.]
The platinum-haired beauty's eyes perked up when she heard that! She was interested! What kind of secrets are they holding? Their tech! History and why they are extinct! All of that and much more.
Whatever they have, the Assistant is sure that she could integrate into Technocracy in some shape or form.
"In that case, I am coming too! I already finished with essentials, and my presence here is not needed," she proclaimed in an assured tone as the beauty decided it was time for her to leave.
She turned around and began to walk towards the double doors that would lead her out of the Grand Observation deck.
'We should bring a planet here. Use it for storage because keeping all the animals in our Base of Operations is a bit stuffy.'
Now that she had finished the essential construction, the girl began to consider how to expand the base.
'But for now, I need to see Marcus~~~' Quinella grinned silly as it had been ages since she saw him in person!
~~~~~~Aboard Marcus' Assimilator~~~~~~
"Marcus?" Kiana poked her head inside the Throne Room. To her surprise, there was no one there!
…
…
…
"Marcus~~~!" The white-haired girl poked her head inside his quarters, again surprised that no one was there.
'Damn! With how big this thing is, it will take me days to find him!' The Kaslana Valkyrie pouted at the absurdity of this place.
[He is not aboard the station. He left to explore the space for today.]
The AI explained to her, making Kiana gasp silly.
"What! Why he didn't take me with him!?"
[Well, I don't have an explanation. All I can say is that you were not available in the morning.]
Kiana had a flashback. She was sleeping at that time. It had been a while since she had no worries and could just sleep like that!
…
…
…
'Well, I do have worries, but they are not as bad, allowing me to sleep properly… it has been a while!'
"I see… so he will return tomorrow?"
[To my understanding, yes, but he found an extinct civilisation so he could take his time.]
The white-haired girl gawked for a bit before starting to think.
'Could I take a ship and catch up with him?'
"Can I take a ship and fly to him?" She asked hopefully.
[I see no reason not to. You have the same access as Sirin. That means you can deploy a fleet if you want.]
Kiana grimaced hearing that she was piggybacking on Sirin, who lost the said access at this moment.
"I don't need a fleet. One ship to him is enough."
[I understand. Sirin's flagship is the only ship docked at the moment. You can take it.]
The white-haired girl flashed back to a huge vessel as she saw it from the side. She recalled how her counterpart was proud of that warship.
" …Isn't it a bit too big?"
[It's at the optimal size for the power source.]
"...But utilising that many people for my whims…" the Valkyrie was not sure.
[The ship's staff exist for high-ranking people's whims.]
"...I see… Then show me where to walk." In the end, she caved in because she wanted to see Marcus.
~~~
Meanwhile, Marcus looked at the overview of the empire he was building.
Currently, his Empire's territory is a bit spread out. With Sirin's insistence on spreading into this Island by the name Honkai, his territory is two separate entities separated by a few timelines that he will need to add to make sure it looks united.
But then his eyes ended up on other blobs not far from Honkaiverse and his empire.
It was another island. He still doesn't know what it is, but it's another universe with distinctive rules.
He will add it at some point, but for now, he needs to domesticate the honkai island before invading another blob like that.
'With Neocene under our rule, we are in human territory. Soon, I will be able to return with the loot.'
Raynor stroked his chin as he realised that his trip was almost over. He... expected he would derail; that is why he loves techno developments like that.
One will never know how it would develop.
For now, he decided to look for some data on the bugs and Iron Cavalry's biological deployment of the armour.
From preliminary data, he can see that the design is stored in the DNA.
He is well aware that a lot of power can be stored in the very essence of being.
For example, souls, if weaponised, could fuel something powerful for many years. After all, it's the very essence of life, using the body as a medium to function.
"To think they cracked such a mystic knowledge as a technologically advanced civilisation," Marcus murmured under his breath.
"Who?" Kallen, who was sitting on his lap, asked curiously.
"Glamothians. These guys learned that souls… or more like life itself, hold a lot of power. They learned to harness it in the form of the armour you see all over us." Marcus explained to her. Kallen looked at the hologram, then at the debris field through the hologram window…
Then she looked at Firefly, who was listening to him as well.
"...I see…" It was over her head, but nonetheless, she nodded. How one could weaponise life is beyond her.
"Though… this gives me some ideas on how to utilise this data." Marcus stroked Kallen's back briefly as he mentally went through windows.
"With my regeneration technology, I could utilise this safely, to some extent."
"You mean knights could have powers similar to Firefly's armour?"
Kallen commented, making the last survivor of Glamoth perk up as she looked at him.
"Yes, without any sort of drawbacks." He showed the DNA sequence.
"I could make it into a chain reaction. Upon activation, life ignites and at the same time accelerates recovery."
"But there has to be a source of energy to feed recovery." Kallen, being a fighting nerd, knows that there has to be a source of power.
"The armours they were generate energy that can feed into their bodies.
It's one of the reasons why they can fight theoretically indefinitely.
The Motion to Magic and Kinetic to Magic generated energy just from moving, fighting or receiving physical damage that lands on them.
Not that these armours are indestructible…" Marcus whispered the last part as he saw the latest report from Erina's current fleet.
'Three knights killed in Honkai Earth?'
The inventor looked confused for a second. Didn't that world fall under his control?
With Honkai gone, the technology should regress to pathetic levels incapable of damaging his Graviton-equipped armours!
But then he read the report.
He realised the issue. His faction theoretically created the weapons those girls wielded.
The particles imbued in the blades had magic residue. Well, Otto thought it was honkai, but he was imbuing magic.
Making them lethal after the graviton field is overpowered.
'Well, well, thankfully, Erina took over. Never imagined her as a general.'
Marcus chuckled as he was surprised at how Imperialist she could be.
Well, she has a Queen mentality under all that cooking.
After finding out an interesting side to his fiancee, Marcus decided that it was time to improve his faction's foundations with new tech.
The Inventor went to his project files and created an MK3 folder under the Knights section.
He swiftly loaded the MK2 armour, the Graviton armour. This tech was impressive when he first figured out waves, thanks to Vali.
It's already considered inferior thanks to nanite technology and arcane technology.
That is why he decided to switch to MK3 models.
"This has to go." He clicked the armour out from the hologram, followed by smaller parts like gloves, boots, and helmets, leaving the biological model behind.
"Aurora, begin incorporating Glamoth's genetic data."
[Improving DNA…]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[Preliminery data results are in.]
Marcus checked the new DNA strand, which had some changes in the makeup.
"It appears we can use this in short bursts."
He noticed that, for now, he only has this as a temporary power-up.
He gives his knights a boost of 200% to 500% for a while. They can go beyond that, but it will damage their bodies permanently.
[Indeed, anything longer than this will be far too dangerous. Simply put…
Our technology is not advanced enough to keep this indefinitely.
M.T.M and K.T.M can't keep up in generating enough energy.
It leaves only short boosts available.]
"You mean graviton armour is not good."
[...Sir, are you thinking of using nanites for MK3?] His AI asked with a bit of concern. After all… if knights will have triangle devices…
That would endanger Technocracy.
Aurora doesn't fully understand those things. They have the will of their own, and if something happens, they could potentially go rogue. With abilities like battle evolution and nanites, those devices could potentially not only advance society into an interstellar age but also give people a form of immortality.
All in all, they are simply too dangerous to be given to every single knight!
"No, I don't think of that. It's too dangerous."
Marcus replied. Kallen, who had been on this lap the whole time, looked at him in shock! If this guy is telling you that they can be that dangerous, then…
It's something else! While she saw a few glimpses of what those devices could do, she never considered the full extent of their might!
"I am thinking of something far more controllable."
The inventor went to the folder full of designs. He needed to use the search option as there was too much stuff there.
From clothes to planet-destroying space cannons.
He found a nanite design he made while creating his triangle devices.
At first, he wanted to base the queen nanite on ants or bees, where the Queen controls all of them, but then he switched to a miniature solar system inside the devices, with an entire factory just for the nanites that are controlled by a central quantum computer AI.
It turns out it was the right choice as he discovered battle evolution.
Alongside transformations like how his Sirin can do it, or those augmented states his old maids did in Jurassic period.
But now he can use Nanite Queens for his knights, an inferior form to a triangle device with a kill switch that won't blow up a Solar system…
Or more… since he didn't do the math on its actual scale if he is to ignite one of the triangle devices and let it rip in a big explosion.
"We will use this." Marcus tapped on the bug picture as, for now, he shelved the destructive power of his most arcane invention to date.
[Understood, this is more reasonable. I will design some basic-containing devices.]
That said, Aurora was working on DNA upgrades and a lesser version of a container for nanite creation, storage, and maintenance.
In the meantime, Marcus went to programming sequences for two types of nanites. For the body that assists in utilising the burst mode, since regular M.T.M and K.T.M can't keep up with energy creation, he will use nanites and their M.T.M technology.
After a simple suggestion for the replacement, he got results that were plausible and far better than those of Graviton Armour.
The best part is that graviton armour protection isn't going anywhere.
It's only getting better!
Nanites will replace and emulate the waves, in turn creating a gravitational barrier that is several times more powerful and far more versatile.
As Marcus was upgrading his overall force, some action was happening elsewhere.
~~~~~~Earth (Honkai verse) ~~~~~~
With Erina's takeover, the occupation process returned in full force, and the pressure on the last remaining rebel remnants intensified.
"Look at this." Einstein showed something she had on the computer screen.
Tesla, Welt, Bronya and Seele looked at the screen.
"This is Honkai particle." She zoomed in and showed the particle at an atomic level.
"And this… is whatever there is in the air."
Another picture of a particle.
"They are almost completely identical," Tesla replied.
"Precisely, in other words… honkai didn't go anywhere; it's just that we need to restart everything from the basics if we wish to learn how it behaves."
"You mean we need to rebuild the entire infrastructure around this particle?" Welt exclaimed as he realised that this was impossible!
How are they supposed to fight this faction without any support!?
"Indeed. It turns out that what was known of Honkai were all lies, illusions made by this particle.
Look."
Einstein simply changed a few atoms and rotated them, and he had the Honkai particle, which is supposed to be the origin of all bad things in the world.
But it was all an illusion.
"So it was a trick…"
"So that Herrscher's story is true. If this was the case… that faction is far older and far more advanced than anything we know." The Anti-Entropy Leader replied as he held his chin with his hand.
They had no machinery, troops, or weapons—just a bit of money he was able to salvage before they needed to leave the desert base, as it was unlivable there.
How they should resist the current occupation force.
"All we can do is blend in and figure out how to oppose it. There is no other way." Welt said with a sign.
This discovery was the last nail in the coffin.
*BAM**BAM**BAM*
*ROAR*
Someone banged on their safehouse door.
"We got trouble!" One of the guards banged on the door.
The group walked to windows and checked the streets outside the building.
What they saw was a large reptile… with jaws full of teeth. It had an armour protecting its vital areas… and a cannon on its back.
But…
"Why does it have Riot Police on its sides?" Seele asked with a confused gaze.
What they saw was T-Rex… dressed as Riot Police!
"..."
"..."
"..."
Neither Tesla nor Welt could reply to her question, and Bronya was as confused as Seele. This situation looked like something from a gag cartoon or anime.
They don't understand how far Marcus needed to go to fulfill his wish of having Dinosaurs dressed in Riot Police gear.
Still, this is only the beginning, as there is much more!
"...Maybe as a fear factor? I mean, who would want to riot when these things are on patrol?" Welt tried to reason with what he saw!
~~~
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